KeeperOfTheZoo

Thanks for the warning Hamp. I am going to watch the tank closely. Will run water param checks again tonight. Bummer on your tank crashing. Ouch. Did you have a lot of live rock? I don't know why my tank didn't crash after the move (it's been 6 months now since moving it and its done nothing but improve). It was *so* neglected when I bought it. The CC bed was filthy, hair algae out the wazoo, massive nutrient build up (with high nitrates and phosphates). Maybe it was just so bad nothing could possibly make it worse! Oh, and thank you for the compliment on the tank. It has come so far.

Hey Teoahnna, what LFS was this? One in Killeen? Hope your anemone feels better soon. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think coco worms can be hard to keep especially in a newer tank (because of the lack of plankton). I had a hawaiian duster and a cluster duster, both died. The cluster duster was doing great (making new tubes/babies) until my eel buried it,several times, then it never recovered. The hawaiian just up and blew its head and died one day. On researching more I learned filter feeders like these can be hard to feed. They eat little bitty plankton and can easily starve to death. I think that's what happened to my hawaiian duster. I'm going to try another one and specifically target feed it. They'll also blow their tops/jump out of their tubes because of stress. Your water params look great now (yea!!!!) but that KH spike you had was probably enough to stress a lot of your inverts.

All is well this morning. Water params last night and this morning are good. Everything settled, the water is totally clear (was by lights out last night). The stuff swirling around settled down, there's a different pattern in the sand now so I guess it adjusted to my power heads. I'm getting new PHs this weekend, hopefully they won't blow the sand around too much. Ric, I'm just teasing you. If anything I do helps you at all I'm pleased! My tank is just one long, ongoing science project anyway. Gabriel, I've done major moves and stir ups of my CC sand bed a few times now (the biggest when I move the tank and stupidly put the CC back in... didn't know at the time it was not what I'd want to use), it never sent my tank into a cycle. I tested for the complete nitrogen cycle right after moving, never got an ammonia reading. Ditto the 3 other times I took out significant amounts of CC from the tank and exposed the underlayers. Now, I don't know if that's because CC doesn't compact the way sand does thus allowing better water circulation through the whole bed, or if I just got lucky! The live sand I put in my tank had also just been moved a couple times and I dumped it all into a container and poured new water over it. With that much stirring and moving I'd assume I would have seen some sign of a cycle, right? Ammonia or nitrites (I left it in a container overnight then tested the water the next morning)? I didn't so I'm going to assume (hope!) that it was truly live and cycled and good to go. I'm not arguing with you, just kinda questioning the 'Don't re-use sand' theory because I've seen good arguments for and against. I'm hoping I'll dodge the 'against' bullets. Oh... might also help that I have a good amount of rock. Anyway, my next step is hopfully meeting Prof on Sat to get more sand, finishing off the sand bed on the front part of the tank then working on the back. Here are a couple of pictures with the sand in. Not great pictures, my camera was dead this morning so I took these on my iPhone. One thing I've noticed is that the sand is so much brighter than the CC!

Hey Glenda, When will you be close to Lampasas? If you are close I could meet you somewhere or of course you are welcome to come out to my place. I live rural, so a bit off the beaten path. Are you out in this area? I've been trying to keep tabs on the folks that live out by me (Killeen/Cove/Harker Heights). Did you get my PM (private message)? I'll go ahead and send another and hope we can work something out.

That is so cool!! Think you furture MIL would like to host an ARC meeting? LOL!! I was wondering the same thing about these anemones. I assume they are the rock anemones others have been talking about. They are pretty, but sound like aggressive little buggers. Clowns aside, what about other fish wandering into them and getting stung to death? Or is that just a risk you take with any anemone? I like the idea of the rock ones because they don't need as much light.

Ric, are you trying to use me and my poor tank as a guinea pig? A blog would have been a good idea. Sadly my allergies are making me miserable and since the water params on the sand came back great I just wanted to get it in the tank ASAP while it was still live. I will share my process & progress though. Chris, the sand (as far as I can tell!) is awesome. I found a tiny frag of zoas in it (that are already open) and a cool little snail is climbing up the glass in my tank... not one I've ever had before so I assume it came from the sand. All water params in the container where I had it tested perfect across the board (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates). Thank you again. Well, I had a lot more sand or maybe just a lot less actual 'floor' volume than I thought across the front of my tank. I do have a pretty good amount of rock. I ended up removing just over 1/2 a bucket of CC from the tank and replaced it with a slightly more shallow bed of sand (between 1/2-1", I may build it up a little more in spots eventually) that spans almost the entire front of the tank. More than I'd anticipated replacing, but I've taken a full 5g bucket of CC out of my tank at a time with no ill results so I'm not too concerned. Since the sand going in does seem to be fully cycled and live, I'm going to hope for the best and be happy I got so much done in a day. ** One note, since I was battling nutrient build up issues with this tank I had been doing deep siphoning of the CC bed to clean out old crud. It got fairly well rinsed when I moved the tank, but it was still kinda dirty. I'd also reduced the CC bed to less than an inch. If you have a deep or really dirty CC bed I suspect you might have more problems with releasing nasty stuff into the water column. When I was researching before doing this I read in several placed to deep clean the CC before removing it and in the case of a deep one to reduce the depth before finally taking it out.** Removing the CC is very easy. I used (4th time around now I've done this, I've got the technique down) a small fish net. Scoop up a net full of CC, let small particle crud settle with the net low in the tank, lift it up and let the water drain a second then dump in a catch bucket. Easy removal that leaves most of the water in the tank. This only let me get to the CC in front of the rocks, the stuff behind/deep between the rocks is going to be more challenging. I did leave some of the CC around the rocks, no idea if it'll help with seeding or not, but it was easier to leave some than to try to remove it all. Since the sand going in was wet it did not want to slide down a pipe (I tried a 5/8" flex tube with a funnel... it clogged too easily. A wider pipe and a DIY coke funnel might have worked better). However, since the sand was very wet it didn't float away much so I just scooped it up with a small cup and poured it out in the bottom of the tank. Easy enough. I'm going to have to get used to how sand swirls around. Nothing moved the CC... now I have sand blowing around from my powerheads. That's novel, for me. The whole process did make a good sand storm in the tank, but neither my corals or fish are upset. A couple corals actually seem to me enjoying the mess (my candy canes have had their feeders out all day)! It's been about 4 hours now and there's a slight haze in the tank but you can see through it and the worst has already settled down. I'm going to test water params tonight and in the morning. Thus far everything in the tank is doing great, no distress at all. I have 15g of saltwater made up in case I need to pull critters or do a water change, another 15 of DI water I can convert to salt in an emergency. Makes me feel a little better. I may just be in the calm before the storm (or crash), but it's been a few hours and all seems well so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed For the CC behind the rock... I think I will siphon it out a bit at a time during water changes and then try filling it back in with dry sand and tubing. That's going to be the harder part of the change to accomplish for sure. Overall, I'm really happy. The sand looks *SO* much nicer. I mean wow... world of difference! Will update tomorrow on the condition of the critters in the tank.

So, I think we need to hold a meeting down at the coast. The obvious theme will be 'how to wild catch tank goodies'. Chris, please share pictures of your girlfriends haul.

I officially can not stand the crushed coral in my tank any longer! Man I hate that stuff. I got some 'live' sand from Chris today (Ozarkwater), about 1/2 a 5g bucket full (thank you Chris! Oh, and little Mr Crab is now king of the fuge. He has 10g of all the pods or algae he wants to eat. I think he'll be happier in there than in the sump). Because I'm paranoid I dumped off the water that was in the bucket, dumped the sand in a clean container and covered it with water from a water change I did today and put a couple airstones in to circulate the water. Gonna test parameters in the morning and check for ammonia and nitrites before I dump it in my tank. Yea... I do get the Mrs. Paranoia crown. Anyway, I've read some on how to switch out a sand bed and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to do it. My thought is to start at one end of the tank, clear out a section of CC and then replace with sand. I don't see any way to avoid having some of the old CC mix in with the new sand. I don't mind as long as the end result is a sand bed that is predominantly sand. Will wet sand slide down a PVC pipe? I've seen it suggested to add new sand to a tank via a pipe which sounds like a great idea. Just not sure it'll work if the sand is wet. If I know ahead of time that's at least one mess I can avoid if it's not going to work. How often should I add new sand to the tank? I don't want to make it cycle. I do have a lot of live rock and of course the remaining live 'sand' bed. I'm hoping that will help compensate as I switch things out. If I get dry (dead) sand would it be worth putting it in a container with some water from a water change and letting it sit & circulate for a while before adding it to the tank? I need a sand bed fairy godmother who can just 'poof' a pretty new sandbed into place while I'm asleep.

Hey Michelle, I think we have it all worked out now! I'll be in town the 19th.

Hmm, This is a double post. I PMed her earlier today. Anyone heard back on the status of the clowns?

Pm sent on clowns if they can be held till this coming weekend.

Has anyone found anything cool off of Mustang Island? When we've gone all I found were hermits. We found lots of jelly fish one year in Corpus. There were so many I was afraid to let the kids get in the water. I'm so ready for a trip to the coast.

I'd nix the cardinals personally unless you either plan to keep fish larger than their mouths or remove them when they get large. When they get big they will happily, eagerly and aggressively eat other fish. I got rid of 4 large orbicular cardinals (PJs ugly cousins) because they would eat any fish they could fit in their mouth, or any fish they thought they might be able to fit in their mouth. I was amazed at what those fish could fit in their mouths. I'm just SO glad I found out by feeding cheap feeder fish to an eel (before we stopped feeding him feeders) vs. feeding a cute clown to the cardinals. It was amazing to see the cardinals hunt and eat the feeder fish. They'd get them long before the poor eel could. They were very passive otherwise (had other large tank mates), but I didn't want to risk misjudging what they would consider a snack when adding new fish.

"Otha motha" contraceptive... oh man... y'all are too much! Mama you're too young to be my momma too. I've always wanted a big sister though. Consider me RSVPed pending any calamities.

Do we have a firm deal on the overflow? Don't want to make plans to drive to S Austin if the sale is shaky.

I painted a PVC overflow with krylon fusion, doesn't seem to have hurt anything in almost 6 months of use. The paint did rub off where I had rocks resting on the overflow. That was a 'duh' move on my point though.

Nope, I asked about just the hole, he said $25, bulkhead extra. Ok, where's Dave to settle this!?! Oh, second hole was $20. I posted in his section under 'tank drilling'.

Last time I asked Dave was charging $25 a hole.

So sorry to hear about the tang. What a bummer. My yellow tang had a bite taken out of one of his dorsal fins. I was really worried. Hopped online and did some research and came to the conclusion that most fin injuries should heal within a few days. If not, it's time to go to more aggressive treatments for underlying causes. Sure enough, within 2 days my tangs fin had totally healed. Not much help for you now, but maybe something for you to think about in the future. Not to derail this post any further, but what about feeding frozen formula 2 for herbivores? I bought and feed it specifically for my tang and angel and they love it (of course, so do the other fish!). The tang does eat meaty foods but really seems to prefer the formula 2. I do feed nori sheets as well, but only about 1-2 times a week. Of course, still have macro growing on some rocks that the fish munch on... maybe a little green algae isn't such a bad thing! Darn derbesia seems determined to stick around.

Or flex pipe and the elimination of joints as much as possible! My return is all flex hose and barb fittings. So nice. Don't know why I bothered hard plumbing the drain.

Derek what corals are you feeding mysis? I have some candy canes that have a great feeding response so I target feed them mysis. The other corals seem oblivious to feeding time. I've been hesitant to feed filter feeder type foods for fear of adding to an already heavy nutrient load (which is much better but I'm still recovering from the old build up). My fish get mysis and frozen formula 2 (for the tang and angel). Once or twice a week I put a small strip of nori on a clip. The corals hopefully catch left overs.

Good point J! I didn't even think about the less rigid stuff kinking. Do you think the hose with the braided exterior will inhibit light enough to (at least mostly) prevent algae growth? I'm hoping I can avoid having to glue things so I can take everything apart if need be. I plumbed with rigid PVC the first time around and one of my regrets now is that I can't take my overflow and drain lines totally apart to clean everything.

Well, I'm about to replumb my tank. It isn't drilled (add a drilled tank to the list of things I'll do differently next time) and if possible I'd like to pick up supplies locally. I'd like to use flexible pipe this time around. I already have everything I need for my return pump. So, I need to figure out what to use from the overflow down to the sump. I stopped by our local Ace and they have a thinner walled clear plastic drain hosing that says it's not for supply lines. They also have a very thick walled potable water safe flex hose. It's so bulky thick! Would the clear drain tubing be safe to use? I know it sounds silly but I got a little nervous when it said not for supply lines. If Lowes or HD has a better option please share. Went to Ace just because it's closer.

Glad all has ended well Dan. I'm really impressed with the response from Marine Land. I wouldn't have expected that.

Well, it sure likes 3wpg of PC lighting. Not sure about high Kh. Mine stays pretty consistantly at 9dkh (calcium 420-440). +1 to it growing in low lit fuges. I have 2 grow lights over my fuge and the coraline is growing fast on the rocks. I have pink, purple and blueish coraline in my tank. All the same plus green in the fuge.